This is the class blog for Eng 1102 at GA Tech called "Fiction, Human Rights, and Social Responsibility." The purpose of this blog is to extend our discussion beyond the classroom and to become aware of human rights issues that exist in the world today and how technology has played a role in either solving or aggravating them. Blogs will be a paragraph long (250 words) and students will contribute once every three weeks according to class number. Entries must be posted by Friday midnight.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Reverse Discrimination

Many use the terms reverse racism and reverse discrimination interchangeably, and this is just not accurate. Racism implies inferiority of a person because of the color of their skin. Discrimination is based more on different treatment of a person based on their race and ethnicity. It is ignorant to claim that white people have ever been victimized by any sort of racism. Also, affirmative action plans implemented to assist minorities are both necessary and beneficial. However, there are instances where these affirmative action plans have negatively impacted the white population, be it fair or unfair. Many universities have a minority quota that they have to fill for various reasons. This is important as it pertains to a school's diversity, and giving opportunities to under-privledged kids. However, filling the quota often comes at the expense of denying admission to an otherwise qualified applicant that happens to be white. The purpose of this blog is not to dismiss the efforts to help the less-fortunate, but rather to
illustrate that even the most universally accepted government programs have their downside. Additionally, if a school admits a students that they would ordinarily deny, it puts the student at a disadvantage. A university establishes admission criteria in order to make sure that admitted students are successful. Another example is in the NFL, where there is a rule that a team looking to hire a coach must interview a minority candidate before making a hire. It may sound ignorant to call this rule stupid and redundant, but at this point in time, that's exactly what I feel it is. A team is not going to make a coaching decision based on race, ethnicity, or religion. If they interview a minority candidate only to satisfy the rule, it is just a waste of time for both parties. I do appreciate efforts to avoid modern day racism, but I wanted to point out the negative aspects of taking it too far.